


Accountable

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Undertale (Video Game), underswap
Genre: (to a fault), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Altruism, And he rolled low on the wisdom and experience stats, Angst and Feels, Arguing, Arrogance, Babybones (Undertale), Beating, Brotherly Angst, Brotherly Love, Bullying, Confusion, He doesn't meet the height requirement, Independence, Kid Fic, Muffet takes charge, Pride, Protectiveness, Sans trying to be an adult, Self-Reliance, Self-Sacrifice, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29193675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: Sans steps in and takes a beating that was meant for Papyrus. He's already forgiven his attackers by the time it's over, so it's strange to him that Papyrus and Muffet are still upset about it.
Relationships: Muffet & Papyrus & Sans (Undertale), Papyrus & Sans (Undertale)
Kudos: 50





	Accountable

**Author's Note:**

> *innocently hums Spider Dance*

Sans wasn’t certain why everyone was so upset about it. It wasn’t much to be concerned about. Of course, when the first blows rained down and bone chipped under fierce knuckles, Sans had found the pain more than a little unpleasant. The kicks were unnecessary and the name-calling was rude but Sans was as strong as he was proud. He could outlast them—and he _did_. He took the victory simply for the fact that he got up again when it was over.

Strangely, Papyrus didn’t seem to see it that way. The whole walk home, he was skittish and shivering, clutching Sans’ hand like a lifeline. Now here was Muffet, hissing and spitting angrily as she patted a warm, damp cloth against the cracks in his nasal bone and jaw.

She really didn’t have to bother, he told her, idly swinging his legs where she had set him on the counter. Skeletons didn’t bleed easily; it would need to be a much deeper wound than this to need staunching. It really wasn’t necessary—

“The necessity is as I say it is!” Muffet snapped, startling him with the severity in her voice as she tipped his head back for a better angle. “You hush about my treatments and tell me instead how many there were pitting against you!”

“Four,” Papyrus piped up tremulously, earning a sharp glance that made him wince. “Sans was standing up for me. It was all my fault—”

“No, no, brother, don’t think that!” Sans protested, twisting to look at him and then yipping out a small “Ow!” as Muffet tugged him back into position. His eye sockets narrowed in exasperation as he insisted, “It wasn’t anyone’s fault; they just didn’t understand. They didn’t know about Papy’s HP so when I saw them trying to roughhouse with him, I invited them to play with me instead!”

“They weren’t _playing!_ Playing shouldn’t make your face all black and blue!”

“It’s just extra magic kicking up along the seams of these scrapes. They’re like little bruises; nothing is as bad as it looks. It will all go away soon!”

“Well, all of those boys should go away! They’re mean and dirty and if you’re not gonna be mad at them for hurting you, I’ll be mad at them myself! I hate them!”

“Papyrus!” Sans’ warning voice was old instinct. “That’s not what I’ve taught you, is it? We can’t _hate_ people; we’re supposed to be kind, we’re supposed to set an example so they know how to be kind too!”

Papyrus’ humility in the face of his brother’s rebuke, however, seemed to have fallen lax. Squaring up, eyelights flashing crimson, he shot back, “Well, you’re not the biggest boss of me anymore! Miss Muffet’s in charge and I know she’s mad at them too!”

“Yes, but the laws against stringing up ugly little termites like them are savvy. No loopholes to spin,” the arachnid huffed.

Rather astounded by her agreement, Sans sputtered, flinging his hands. “When has being mean ever made anything better? I don’t want to hurt them; if we try really hard and we show them how cool we are, maybe we can be friends! It’s in the past now. I forgive them! Once you heal me, ma’am, it’ll be like it never happened. I don’t understand—”

“ _It’s not fair!_ ” Tears burst down Papyrus’ face before the echo of his cry even faded. Scrubbing violently at the evidence, he choked out, “You always forgive them even when they’re horrible to you—and they only get worse because you get in the way of them hurting _me!_ I just wanna protect you too but I-I’m not strong enough; I can’t make them stop. All I can do is hate them but you don’t want that either so how—how am I s’posed to help you?!”

Soul sinking to his toes, Sans found himself with nothing to say as his brother buried himself in one of Muffet’s free arms. Even as she stroked the back of Papyrus’ skull, she brushed her other thumbs over Sans’ battered cheekbones, earning an uneasy flinch.

“You help by being the witness, dearie,” she stated grimly. “Because cruelties like these shouldn’t be brushed away with the flies. You shouldn’t pretend they never happen. They need to be kept in account.”

“But—” Sans’ hushed protest was promptly cut off.

“It isn’t a _kindness_ to let cruel monsters have their way. Forgiveness isn’t forgetfulness. Is it kindness to let your brother cry in fear for you? Hmm? Is it kindness to dismiss my worries and pretend all is well, as if I can’t be trusted to know these goings-on?”

“That…I don’t mean to make you fret…”

“Do you trust me to care for you both, bone hatchlings?”

“Oh, no, it’s not like that! I _know_ you care! You’ve proven that time and time again!”

“Do you trust me to protect you?” Though Sans’ expression didn’t change, the answer was clear to Muffet when his jaw set under her hands. She persisted regardless. “Do you trust me to guard, as being your _guardian_ means? If I were there on the scene, I would have been the one to take that step in and play their _game_ in Papyrus’ place.”

“No, ma’am.” It was the bluntest he had been so far, less of a disagreement and more of a flat-out refusal. “Defending Papyrus is my job.”

Precisely the answer she was banking on. Tilting her head, Muffet countered slowly and firmly. “Then is it a kindness to lie down and take it, if you’re all that’s between them and your brother’s scrap of HP? How can you be _his_ defense proper if you can’t—or won’t—keep yourself safe first? What happens if you let them swat you down and then you can’t get back up to help him?”

“I wouldn’t let that happen!”

“So you _would_ stop them then?”

“I—Well, it doesn’t matter what they do! I can always get back up,” he swore, heels knocking the cabinets beneath the counter. “I can do anything!”

“Not yet, my sweet. You’ve not thought yet of all the ways they can rot you. But all those clock hands ago, you came to me for my help—when Papyrus was _hurting_ and you didn’t know how to make him safe.” Sans’ indignant posture shrank at the reminder. “I’m still here with help to offer, Sans. If you insist to have charge of him, I insist to have charge of you.”

If Sans had any objection to that, he didn’t have time to voice it as Muffet’s arms slid under his to set him back on the floor.

“Change into some looser clothes, if you wish for it, and then meet me and your Papyrus outside,” she instructed as she pulled Papyrus up to carry on her hip, “or you can come as you are. No matter. Just come in your best-judged condition to defend him.”

Sans stiffened, eyelights flicking back and forth across the room to find no immediate threat before recentering on their host. “F-From what? I don’t understand. What’s going to happen?”

“You’ve sampled _their_ tasteless offense and think it is the only kind out there to try its luck against you.” For the first time that Sans could recall, Muffet’s fangs proved intimidating as she grinned. “It’s time _I_ teach you how to _dance_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Muffet proceeded to win several rounds of "Capture The Papyrus," while Sans had to face the hard lesson that pacifism and self-defense (as well as brother defense) can't always go hand in hand. He's got to know how and be _willing_ to protect himself if he wants to protect his loved ones. Maybe there's more for him to learn about being a "guardian."
> 
> As for Papyrus, Muffet is sure to show him a thing or two about dodging like a spider. It will probably come in handy someday.


End file.
